NOTE ON THE AUTHORITIES

For the Statutes of the Order we possess the Italian
edition of 1567, two Latin editions of 1556 and 1588,
and the collection at the end of Vertot’s fourth
volume, which is later and more complete. The
Codice Diplomatico of Fr. Pauli is the only collection
of Charters to my knowledge which covers practically
the whole history of the Order: the magnificent
Cartulaire of Delaville Le Roulx only covers the Syrian
period in the Knights’ history. Many valuable
hints can be found in the Calendars of State Papers
issued by the Record Office, but they fail us at the
beginning of the seventeenth century.

Of the various historians above mentioned, Bosio,
for the period he covers, is by far the best and completest.
Vertot only goes down to 1565: after the siege
he treats the subject in a bare annalistic form.
Boisgelin, who was a Knight himself and wrote his history
after his expulsion from Malta, is valuable for his
elaborate excursus on the financial system of the
Order. All three—­who are our completest
authorities—­wrote from the point of view
of the Order, and consequently are very unreliable
in some matters. The treatment that the Maltese
received from the Order is very inadequately dealt
with, and none of them can seriously estimate the
Mediterranean background to the history of the Knights,
and especially their relations with the Barbary pirates.
General Porter, whose history is the only English
one at all worthy of mention, possesses the same faults.
Though his knowledge of the island is thorough, his
ignorance of European history makes him neglect the
importance of the external activities of the Knights,
and he follows the Order’s chroniclers too slavishly
to claim authority as an independent investigator.
Miege, who was a French Consul at Malta, is interesting
as a bitter opponent of the Order and all its work;
and he practically confines himself to the treatment
of the Maltese at the hands of the Knights.

The best authority on sixteenth-century sea power
in the Mediterranean is Admiral Jurien de la Graviere,
while Commander Currey’s book is very sound
and interesting.